MRUCM 03

Chapter 03

The occurrence of Gates is like a natural disaster.

With modern humanity’s technology, it’s impossible to predict or control those distortions in space-time.

They pour down without warning, like a summer shower.

Most Gates that opened were low-ranked.

Small-scale Gates that burst open regardless of location—in front of convenience stores, on school playgrounds—were the norm.

These Gates were actually welcomed.

Because they allowed people to obtain mana stones or byproducts from monsters.

But.

Very rarely.

With odds lower than winning the lottery, disaster-class Gates would occur.

There were certainly cases that required declaring a national state of emergency.

And as it happened.

The moment Baek Kang-jin set foot on Earth’s soil, that slim probability struck.

“Hah…”

Baek Kang-jin took a deep breath.

The acrid smell of exhaust fumes.

The gritty sensation of fine dust lodging deep in his lungs.

It was the air of Seoul, which he hadn’t breathed in ten years.

Compared to the fantasy world, it was murky air, but to Baek Kang-jin, it smelled more fragrant than any perfume.

“I’m back.”

Gray asphalt pavement came into view.

Looking around, it seemed to be the middle of Gangnam.

A dense forest of buildings.

Exactly the scenery he remembered.

But there was no time to indulge in sentiment.

Wheeeeee!

Air raid sirens pierced his eardrums.

“Citizens! An emergency evacuation order has been issued for the Teheran-ro area! Immediately proceed to the nearest shelter!”

Announcements blared from speakers.

People were screaming and running the wrong way down the streets.

Cars tangled with each other, honking wildly.

It was utter chaos.

Rumble, rumble.

A vibration reached Baek Kang-jin’s feet.

‘A welcome party right upon arrival.’

Baek Kang-jin clicked his tongue.

In the middle of the road, the asphalt cracked open and a bluish fog spewed forth.

A Gate was forming.

And a highly unstable, sudden-type Gate at that.

Grrrrr…

Fluorescent eyes flickered within the fog.

Monster backflow phenomenon.

A disaster threatening humanity had occurred.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Help me!”

A fleeing woman tripped and fell.

Behind her, a werewolf—with a wolf’s head on a human body—leaped.

A perfect trajectory aimed at the woman’s nape.

That was when.

Papat!

A silver flash split the air.

Swish.

The werewolf’s head spun through the air and fell to the ground.

A clean cut.

A sword strike so fast not a single drop of blood splattered.

“Hey, you there! Don’t just stand there dazed—run!”

A sharp voice.

Baek Kang-jin turned his head.

A woman with silver short hair was flicking her sword clean.

A form-fitting black suit.

On her left arm was a badge with the mark of the “Korea Awakener Association” and a gold emblem.

S-rank Hunter Min Seol-hee.

An awakener who had quickly appeared at the emergency disaster scene.

‘Fast.’

Baek Kang-jin assessed her casually.

Her muscle contraction and relaxation speed was dozens of times faster than an ordinary person’s.

Her mana circuits were also evenly distributed throughout her body, giving her decent reaction speed.

Of course, by Baek Kang-jin’s standards, “decent” meant “worth watching as a cute little trick.”

“Can’t you hear me?! Are you out of your mind wanting to die?!”

Min Seol-hee shouted.

To her eyes, Baek Kang-jin was just an ordinary person frozen in fear.

The situation was at its worst.

She had arrived first after receiving the support request from the association branch, but the number of monsters was far higher than expected.

Kraaaah!

Hordes of werewolves poured out from all over the road.

Roughly counting, there were over thirty.

Min Seol-hee bit her lip.

‘Damn it. Am I supposed to protect civilians while stopping all of those by myself?’

Impossible.

She was a close-range dealer.

She lacked area-of-effect attacks.

She could certainly kill them one by one, but she couldn’t sweep away a pack that swarmed all at once.

At that moment.

Three werewolves spotted Baek Kang-jin and changed direction.

The eyes of beasts that had found a tasty piece of prey.

“Get out of the way!”

Min Seol-hee kicked off the ground and ran.

But the distance was too far.

By her calculation, she would be too late.

That man’s neck would be torn out in one second.

‘No…!’

Just as Min Seol-hee reached out her hand in despair—

Baek Kang-jin yawned, looking annoyed.

“So noisy.”

He flicked a single finger.

Thwoom.

The air pressed down heavily.

The high-density mana emanating from Baek Kang-jin’s body compressed the space, then instantly expanded.

Pwoom!

Thump!

Pwababak!

The three werewolves that had been charging burst apart simultaneously.

They couldn’t even scream.

As if struck by an invisible giant’s palm.

Werewolf bones and flesh were crushed, blood vessels burst, and viscera scattered in all directions.

“……?”

Min Seol-hee, who had been running, came to a screeching halt.

The soles of her shoes scraped against the asphalt, giving off a burning smell.

She stared blankly at the scene before her.

The monsters that had been radiating killing intent just moments ago had disappeared without a trace.

All that remained was red meat paste smeared across the ground.

‘What? What just happened?’

She couldn’t understand it.

There was no incantation for casting magic, nor was there a magic circle drawn.

He had simply flicked his finger, and monsters that even she, an S-rank Hunter, would struggle against had been instantly annihilated.

Meanwhile, Baek Kang-jin seemed utterly unimpressed.

He merely gazed at the monster remains with indifferent eyes.

“……”

Min Seol-hee cautiously approached him.

Her eyes were a mixture of wariness and curiosity.

“Um… are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

Baek Kang-jin replied dryly.

Of course, Min Seol-hee felt a little miffed.

Since when were they on such familiar terms that he could speak informally to her?

But she couldn’t point out that issue.

Kurururung!

A roar incomparable to before shook Teheran-ro.

“Were those guys just an appetizer?”

Baek Kang-jin’s brow furrowed.

From within the darkness, an enormous hand shot out and grabbed the exterior wall of a building.

Crack.

A concrete building crumbled like a cracker.

Kiiiiiiiiieeeeeeek!

A piercing shriek that tore at eardrums.

What emerged through the dust clouds was a giant centipede.

But it wasn’t an ordinary centipede.

Each segment was studded with bluish-white bones, and its hundreds of legs were as sharp as blades.

A monster reaching fifty meters in length.

“A… a Skull Centipede?”

Min Seol-hee’s face turned white as a sheet.

“That’s impossible. Why is that thing appearing here?”

Disaster rank 7.

A monster that required two elite strike teams from a major guild working together to barely bring it down.

There was absolutely no way she could handle it alone.

Could she even last three minutes?

The Skull Centipede turned its head and looked down at the two of them.

Countless skulls chattered as they opened their jaws.

An overwhelming terror pressed down on them.

“Run!”

Min Seol-hee gripped her sword and stepped in front of Baek Kang-jin.

Her legs were trembling, but her sense of duty as a Hunter kept her standing.

“I’ll buy you time, so get as far away as—”

“Move.”

The voice from behind was cold.

“Excuse me?”

“I said get back. You’re in the way. Annoying.”

Min Seol-hee turned around.

Baek Kang-jin looked bored.

“W-wait a minute! Do you not understand the situation here? That’s a rank 7! No matter how strong you are—”

“So what.”

Min Seol-hee was speechless.

Where on earth was that baseless confidence coming from?

But.

The oppressive aura emanating from Baek Kang-jin’s body made her retreat despite herself.

“……”

Baek Kang-jin looked up at the Skull Centipede.

‘Just a big brute.’

Its biological structure was a mess.

The exoskeleton looked tough, but the joints between segments were covered in mucous membranes.

Its respiratory organs were also exposed externally.

A structure perfect for infiltrating viruses.

‘Virus deployment.’

Baek Kang-jin’s eyes glowed blue.

‘An arthropod, but a variant. Weak point is the respiratory mucosa.’

Baek Kang-jin spread his palm.

Invisible microscopic particles sprayed from his hand.

Though no wind was blowing, the particles flew toward the monster as if they had a will of their own.

Targeted virus dispersal.

One of the masterpieces Baek Kang-jin had researched and refined in the other world.

“Kiiiiek…”

The monster was about to attack but hesitated.

Its massive body began to tremble violently.

As if electrocuted, its hundreds of legs twisted in different directions.

“Grrruk… kkek… keok…”

Strange sounds leaked from the monster’s mouth.

Min Seol-hee couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘Why is it suddenly acting like that?’

And then the next moment.

“WUUUEEEEKKK!”

The Skull Centipede opened its mouth and spewed a waterfall of vomit.

Dark red blood and melted organ fragments.

Ssssss.

The asphalt where the vomit touched melted away, releasing a pungent acidic smoke.

“What, what is this…”

Min Seol-hee covered her mouth.

The monster’s condition deteriorated rapidly.

Its once-hard exoskeleton softened and began to melt like candle wax.

Its eyeballs burst, and from the holes, pale froth bubbled up.

It was as if every cell in its body had received a simultaneous self-destruct command.

Pshhhhhh…

With a sound like air escaping, the fifty-meter-tall behemoth collapsed to the ground.

Bones and muscles turned to jelly, becoming unrecognizable.

The immense pressure it had radiated was gone, leaving only a sticky lump of organic matter.

Squelch.

The situation was over.

This had happened just thirty seconds after combat began.

Min Seol-hee’s entire body broke out in goosebumps.

She could understand if it had been cut by a blade or blown up by magic.

But this was an incomprehensible realm.

If she had to describe it, it was like an infectious disease?

A rank 7 monster had been killed biologically without a single physical wound.

Swish.

Min Seol-hee raised her sword and pointed it at Baek Kang-jin.

Her face was pale.

“What… what did you just spread?”

Her voice trembled.

“That… it’s contagious, isn’t it? Right? Did you just release poison gas in the middle of Seoul?!”

What if that virus spread through the air?

Not just the citizens in this area, but all of Seoul could end up like that monster.

As an S-rank Hunter, she judged that she had to eliminate this dangerous factor here.

Even if she seemed to have no chance.

Baek Kang-jin scratched his head with an annoyed look.

“Don’t worry. It doesn’t spread.”

“What? You’re saying that after seeing that?”

“My virus is coded.”

“Co… ded?”

Baek Kang-jin clicked his tongue.

From her expression, it was clear she wouldn’t understand even if he explained.

“Simply put, it only reacts to proteins that carry magical energy waves from the other world. It has absolutely no effect on Earth’s life forms—humans, cats, trees, whatever.”

A thorough targeting design.

Baek Kang-jin might be a mad scientist, but he wasn’t a mass murderer.

He had no intention whatsoever of turning his hometown into a wasteland.

“And I need to clean up too.”

Baek Kang-jin snapped his fingers once more.

This time, it was cleanup bacteria.

A white powder-like substance descended onto the monster’s remains strewn across the ground.

Ssssss.

The black blood and flesh that had been emitting a repulsive stench began to decompose in an instant.

It was an astonishing sight.

The corpse, which had seemed like poison, dried and shriveled to white, then turned into fine soil dust.

The black smoke disappeared, and a fresh scent spread in its place.

The smell of soil and phytoncides—the kind you’d only smell in a forest after rain.

“Uh…?”

Min Seol-hee was startled.

Just moments ago, the stench of rotting flesh had been overwhelming.

Now it felt as refreshing as being in an arboretum.

The monster’s remains had become eco-friendly compost.

The asphalt had become fertile enough to plant saplings on.

“That about does it, right?”

Baek Kang-jin said, looking at Min Seol-hee.

She nodded dumbly.

The tip of her sword, which she had been pointing at him, lowered weakly.

Fear, shock, and relief mixed together, making her head spin.

“Th-thank you… for helping.”

Min Seol-hee bowed her head without thinking.

After all, this unidentified man had indeed saved Seoul.

Thanks to him.

She now had a mountain of things to report to the association.

The emergence of an unidentified transcendent awakener.

Possession of biology-related special abilities.

And on top of that, his personality was quite eccentric.

Baek Kang-jin barely listened to her thanks.

He had something else on his mind.

“Never mind that. Let me ask one question.”

“Huh? Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

Min Seol-hee tensed up.

Was he going to demand compensation?

Or was he going to threaten her to keep his identity hidden?

But what came out of Baek Kang-jin’s mouth was unexpected.

“What year is it?”

“…Excuse me?”

Min Seol-hee doubted her own ears.

Asking for the year all of a sudden?

“Right now… are you asking what year it is?”

“Yeah. Anno Domini.”

“It’s 2026.”

Baek Kang-jin’s eyebrow twitched.

A calculator rapidly ran through his mind.

‘2026.’

The year Baek Kang-jin went missing was the fall of 2016.

The time he’d spent in the other world was exactly 120 years.

Meanwhile, ten years had passed on Earth.

‘Thank goodness.’

A sigh of relief escaped him.

He’d avoided the scenario of returning to find that a hundred years had passed on Earth.

He’d been worried that everyone he knew would have aged and died, and the world would have completely changed.

If that was the case, then—

‘Brother. And my niece.’

When Kang-jin went missing, his niece was five years old.

Ten years had passed, so she’d be fifteen now.

Probably a second-year middle school student.

“……”

A peculiar smile spread across Baek Kang-jin’s lips.

That little niece of his.

How much had she grown while her uncle was gone?